According to IHS iSuppli, the darn thing costs at least $306 to make. On top of that, HP promises free shipping on second-run orders from its online store. HP is taking a loss on every unit sold at these prices, but hey -- let's make up in volume what we lose on the margins! Whoever made that genius decision, I want some of what they're smoking.

Meanwhile, enthusiasts have cooked up versions of Linux and Android to run on the TouchPad, squeezing a better-supported lifespan out of the doomed product even if webOS itself dies. I guess there's always demand for cheap and reasonably powerful hardware.

All jokes aside, HP might actually have a plausible reason for this head-scratcher. You see, HP was planning to make more of these things, including a smaller 7-inch version, and reportedly ordered up enough parts to build another 100,000 units.

HP may be pulling out of the consumer hardware business, but it would still be a bad idea to leave a large number of parts suppliers stranded with unsold TouchPad parts. The gadget includes chips from industry giants such as Texas Instruments (NYS: TXN) , Qualcomm (NAS: QCOM) , and Maxim Integrated Products (NAS: MXIM) , and the LG Display (NYS: LPL) touchscreen is driven by a chipset from Cypress Semiconductor (NAS: CY) .

It's safe to assume that many of these suppliers also ship parts for HP's as-yet-unsold computer systems division and the all-important printer segment. Ameliorating the negative goodwill from this drastic move is very important to HP, and probably well worth a couple hundred million dollars of unprofitable tablet sales just to make the issue go away.

Will any of the erstwhile iPad killers ever figure out how to build a competitive product cheaply enough to actually threaten the iPad? HP sure couldn't. Samsung stands a better chance than most since it makes many of the required parts in-house and could squeeze the build costs that way -- but that hasn't happened yet. Maybe the next version of the Galaxy Tab could do better? Present your own theories in the comments box below.